Waterside leisure facilities are well known and come in many forms. Hotels, beachside facilities, leisure parks, theme parks and apartment complexes are built in waterside locations because users enjoy the combination of countryside and waterside settings and the range of activities and entertainments which can be enjoyed on land and on the water. Such complexes exist on riverside, lakeside and seaside locations. However, the vast majority of complexes in the world are located in areas whose usage is significantly affected by changes in climate as the seasons change. Generally, resorts which are located directly on the equator or near to it are not necessarily easily accessible by local communications links, such as airports, railways and roads. Further, since they are often in very hot environments all year round, they are not necessarily ideally suited to use for all leisure purposes. Even where facilities are available in locations which have a good climate for general use all year round, the number of available locations is limited and not necessarily usefully accessible by users from all parts of the world.
Where waterside leisure facilities are located in areas where the environmental conditions are affected by seasons, there is often a relatively short peak season where the facilities are useful, since the ideal combination of water temperature, land temperature and air temperature and humidity only occurs at certain points in the year. This causes technical and logistical problems, since the facilities may be only used for part of the year, which means that the transportation related problems of getting seasonal staff to and from the location can render operations inefficient, and many of the leisure facilities or equipment may have to be stored in safe locations during autumn, winter and spring months and only brought out during summer, which causes further technical problems in terms of storage, security, maintenance and user familiarity with the equipment being used, as well as resulting in sub-optimal utilisation of the equipment around the year.
The seasonality associated with the vast majority of waterside leisure facilities therefore has a number of drawbacks.